The free, ad-supported P2P music service Qtrax this week announced a deal with Warner Music Group that puts it (finally) in position to launch.

"A year ago, the company misfired on its initial launch, announcing deals with major labels that had not yet been finalized, but has since firmed up agreements with all four," notes DMW's Mark Hefflinger.

"Following last January's embarassing debut, many people questioned whether Qtrax would ever actually have any music to download," writes Afterdawn's Rich 'vurbal' Fiscus. "Later in the year they began announcing deals with major labels, first EMI and then Universal Music Group. In June 2008 they finally introduced some music to their service, followed later in the year with a deal with Sony BMG. Now they've announced an agreement with Warner Music Group, which will give them access to songs from every major label."

"Qtrax works by offering free, legal music downloads via the Gnutella P2P network," writes Ars Technica's Jacqui Cheng. "The music is supported by advertising on the site, though don't go thinking that it's DRM-free or that your usage won't be watched. Qtrax music employs Windows Media DRM that will not only prevent copying to your friends' computers, it will also track how many times a song is played and by which artists. Presumably, this is to figure out what kind of music you like the most and target the site's advertising better, though the company also says that the artists and labels that are played the most will get the largest payments out of the pool of ad revenue."

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